Chapter 36
Memories
Susan sat on William's bed waiting for him to return, she had changed into some dry and more comfortable clothes. She was now wearing a light pink blouse and a dark green skirt with flowers on it, she didn't think it looked that good but it would do for now.
She looked at the clock by the bed and saw that it was nearly three in the morning, the rain was still pouring outside which meant Susan could hear every drop hitting the windows. She wondered where William was, she hoped he was okay as she understood that Sophia's death had affected him.
Finally her question of his whereabouts was answered when the door opened and he stood in the doorway dripping wet. She stood up and faced him however she did not say anything or move nearer towards him, he just stared at her for a few minutes before he entered the room and closed the door behind him.
They looked at each other for a minute before William moved over to the bed and sat down; Susan hesitated for a few seconds before sitting down next to him. They stayed silent but Susan slowly reached out and held his hand, he didn't pull his hand away he instead held hers in return.
"I'm sorry Susan" he whispered
"There's nothing to be sorry about, Sophia's death was not your fault" she replied firmly
He slowly nodded at that and gave a long sigh; Susan understood how he was feeling it seemed that they were against overwhelming odds. She didn't know how they were supposed to stop Kadius from releasing Tash; however she was confident that William would find a way to do that.
The soldiers cheered as Kadius entered the church; he held the horn and rings up in triumph along with the painting. Quigley was cheering behind him but the one person Kadius was searching for was Victoria, he couldn't see any sign of her in the church and wondered where she could be. He was beginning to worry that he had made a mistake in allowing her full access to the church and its grounds.
He kept smiling for the soldiers and proceeded down into the corridors below the church floor and headed towards the main chamber. The soldiers followed cheering all the way, when they entered the chamber Kadius saw the wardrobe waiting to be joined by the other items.
"Tomorrow, we shall perform the ritual which shall release our master upon this Earth" Kadius announced to the soldiers who cheered
He then placed the rings, horn and painting around the wardrobe and looked at them all with triumph in his eyes. Finally after all this time searching his quest was complete and he had succeeded.
"Quigley" Kadius called
"Yes my lord" Quigley replied running forward to meet him
"Clear everyone out of the chamber, I need to speak to my master alone" He ordered
"Yes my lord" Quigley repeated before running off to repeat Kadius's commands
The soldiers slowly exited the chamber, finally Kadius was left alone. He unsheathed Calgri and placed it into the ground where he kneeled staring at the red symbol of Tash which sat on the wall.
"My master" he said
The temperature in the room slowly dropped and the candles flickering in the chamber suddenly went out. The cold presence of Tash floated around the room and Kadius knew he was no longer alone in the chamber.
"You have done well Kadius" Tash said in a high cold voice
"Thank you master"
"The Gentle and The Phoenix are still alive"? He asked
"Yes master" Kadius answered
"What is your plan in dealing with them"?
"They will both come to me, I am certain of it"
There was silence; Kadius was worried as it was never usually a good sign when Tash became silent. Kadius could still feel his presence in the chamber confirming that he was still there.
"Very well Kadius, right now I will trust your judgement but do not fail me I want the Gentle brought to me alive"
"Yes master"
"As for the Phoenix, you may have your revenge" Tash said
"Thank you master"
The presence then disappeared and the temperature rose, the candles flickered back into life and once again Kadius was left alone in the chamber. He didn't move however he stayed kneeled on the ground staring at Calgri.
The sword had been entrusted to him by Tash and he still laughed at the ironic situation he was now in. William was his former friend and mentor and now they were enemies, Kadius had the sword of Tash and William had the sword of Aslan; their battle would be long and difficult.
Susan slowly opened her eyes to be blinded by sunlight drifting in through the window; she slowly sat up and stretched. She had fallen asleep on William's bed last night however she couldn't see him.
She thought he had left again until she finally spotted him leaning against the door staring at a piece of paper.
"William" Susan said
He looked up and gave a small smile; she got off the bed and approached him. She spotted something by his feet and opened her eyes in shock at seeing William's chest in the middle of the room. She didn't understand how it could be here as they had left in the car on the bridge.
"It seems we had a delivery during the night" William said with a small smile
"How"? She asked
He handed her the piece of paper which she took, there was hardly anything on it apart from one sentence of writing. She carefully read the writing wondering who on earth would have brought this back for them.
The Phoenix must rise one last time
-S
Susan reread the note in confusion; she had no idea who could have sent this. She wondered if the S stood for Sophia but she knew that was impossible. Then she remembered speaking to George last night and she knew that it could have been her.
"Who did this"? She asked
"My wife"
Susan's eyes opened in shock at hearing that, she had met William's wife in this very room with Sophia. She was happy that she had shown herself to William however she wondered what she had told him and wondered what the note meant.
"What does she mean by the Phoenix must rise one last time"? She asked
"It means that to defeat Tash and stop Kadius I must become the man I once was" He answered
Susan was confused at that, it obviously showed as William gave her a small sad smile like he understood that she didn't understand anything she was hearing. Susan sighed and gave him a sad smile in return; she wondered if she would ever understand the strange things that people spoke about.
"So what do we do about Kadius"? She asked
"We will do what we must" William answered picking up Excalibur from the top of the chest and unsheathing it so that the bladed glowed in the room.
Susan knew what William meant, she had never killed anyone but she knew that the time called for it as the whole world was at stake. William then sheathed Excalibur and pushed the chest closer towards her.
"I was supposed to let you remember on your own, but we might not live long enough for that"
Susan was shocked and confused at that, however she approached as William gestured for her to join him on the floor where they both ended up kneeled next to the chest. William gave a small smile as he opened it revealing all the items inside, the first item he pulled out was the bow followed by a quiver of red feathered arrows.
Susan hadn't seen these since Cambridge and was nervous when he held them both out for her to take. Gently she took them from his hands and allowed her thumb to stroke the silver S and P on the ivory quiver.
"Susan you were given them by Father Christmas himself, you were in Narnia and you were on the way to the Stone Table. You and your siblings led the Narnian people to freedom against the White Witch and were crowned the Kings and Queens of Narnia"
Susan stared at him like he had gone mad; she couldn't believe he would make up such a wild story. However his eyes stared right into hers and Susan could see that he believed every little bit of the story that was what scared her most.
"William, stop it" she whispered
"After six years of peaceful reign, war came to Narnia. The small island nation of Galma launched an armada which landed on the beaches and destroyed your army and took Cair Paravel the home of Narnian Monarchs" William continued
"Stop it"
"Around that time I returned to Narnia, at first you and your siblings didn't trust me. I tried to help but it wasn't enough, I was tortured by your family and kept in the castles dungeons"
"William stop it, my family would never have tortured you"! Susan screamed
"It was George who did it your family had their hands tied, I do have the scars to prove it" he explained unbuttoning his shirt
Susan blushed a little as he took off his shirt; however her blush disappeared when he turned around to show her many scars on his back. She slowly moved forward and let her fingers trace over one of them.
"What did this"? She asked quietly
"A whip, it looks worse than it actually felt" he replied with a small smile as he put his shirt back on
Susan couldn't believe what she had seen; however seeing the scars suddenly caused an image of William being chained up in some kind of cell where the whip connected with his back causing it to bleed. Her siblings were all there watching uncomfortably, Susan was feeling sick at the sight of it.
"Susan, are you okay"? William asked concerned
The image disappeared just as quickly as it had come; she looked back at William in shock. She had never seen it before and had no idea where it had come from. William continued to look at her concerned but relaxed a little when Susan gave him a small smile to show that she was alright.
William moved back to the chest and started rumbling around, he pulled out a small bottle filled with red liquid. The bottle sat in a red leather pouch where a small lion's head could be seen on it, William handed the bottle out to Susan who slowly took it.
"That is the juice of the fire flower one drop of that will cure any injury, it belonged to Lucy"
As soon as her fingers made contact more images flashed into her head, she first saw Lucy standing in front of a man with a long white beard and wearing a red coat who was handing her the bottle, she saw Lucy pouring the drop from the bottle into an injured Edmund's mouth, saw her pouring another drop into what looked like a dwarf's mouth in front of a stone mound and finally saw her pouring the drop into a mouse's tiny mouth on the bank of a river.
"Susan"?
Susan opened her eyes to see William looking at her with concern with his emerald green eyes, she realised she had fallen back against the bed and felt sick and dizzy. William helped her sit up a little bit, the bottle had fallen onto the ground next to her but she did not dare pick it up.
William reached back into the chest with sad eyes, he pulled out something wrapped in blankets and slowly handed it over to her. Susan took it and slowly unwrapped it to find a sword in a red sheath; the hilt also had red leather on it and was accompanied by a golden lions head at the end.
"This is Rhindon it belonged to the High King of Narnia, it belonged to Peter" William explained
Susan touched the hilt and was welcomed by more images, she saw Peter receiving the sword from the same man with a white beard and red coat, next she saw Peter kneeling with the sword in front of a massive Lion, then she saw Peter on horseback leading many strange looking creatures into battle and finally saw Peter handing the sword over to a handsome boy with long dark hair and brown eyes.
"Susan, are you alright"? William asked
"No more, please no more" Susan whispered
"Okay Susan no more, here take my hand" he replied holding out her hand for him to pull her up
However as soon as their hands touched more images came into her head, she saw her and William kissing near a river, next she saw William dying in her arms, then she was kissing him in front of the stone mound being watched by an army.
William tried to pull her up but Susan fell into his arms, she looked straight into his concerned face. She was completely overwhelmed by what she had just seen, William was asking her if she was alright but Susan barely heard him.
"Us" she mumbled
"What about us"? He asked
"Us" Susan repeated
"Susan"?
Susan didn't answer; more images had entered her mind. She was kneeling in front of huge lion with Peter and Lucy in the middle of some camp, then she was speaking to the lion on a balcony of a castle, next she was kneeling in front of the lion again only this time it was on a river bank and finally she stood with Peter in front of the lion as he said she would never return.
"Susan, please answer me" William pleaded
"Aslan" Susan whispered
She then closed her eyes and fell unconscious; William hesitated for a minute shocked at her use of the great lion's name. Finally he came to his senses and scooped her into his arms and placed her on the bed, he placed a kiss on her forehead and hoped that the use of Aslan's name meant she was starting to remember.